Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson's Navigators of Dune is the climactic finale of the Great Schools of Dune trilogy, set 10,000 years before Frank Herbert's classic Dune.

The story line tells the origins of the Bene Gesserit Sisterhood and its breeding program, the human-computer Mentats, and the Navigators (the Spacing Guild), as well as a crucial battle for the future of the human race, in which reason faces off against fanaticism. These events have far-reaching consequences that will set the stage for Dune, millennia later.

At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.

Productbeschrijving

Productbeschrijving

Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson's Navigators of Dune is the climactic finale of the Great Schools of Dune trilogy, set 10,000 years before Frank Herbert's classic Dune.

The story line tells the origins of the Bene Gesserit Sisterhood and its breeding program, the human-computer Mentats, and the Navigators (the Spacing Guild), as well as a crucial battle for the future of the human race, in which reason faces off against fanaticism. These events have far-reaching consequences that will set the stage for Dune, millennia later.

At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.

Nuttigste klantenrecensies op Amazon.com

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atreides

1,0 van 5 sterrenAnd the Dune series comes to a train wreck ending.

7 november 2016 - Gepubliceerd op Amazon.com

Geverifieerde aankoop

First let me just say as I always do with these reviews, I like some of Brian’s and Kevin’s books about Dune. Butlerian Jihad, Machine Crusade, House Atreides, House Corrino, and House Harkonnen are all amazing books that get dismissed too quickly.

That said, the last 3 books, Sisterhood of Dune, Mentats of Dune, and now this monstrosity Navigators of Dune are all utter crap. My guess is that Brian and Kevin spent way too much time writing their other books instead of focusing on the last few Dune books. Here are just a few of the things wrong with this last book. Spoilers are coming.

- They spent the last 3 books doing what I call filler. They constantly, and I mean constantly re-hash what has previously happened. 40% of this book is just them re-hashing everything in the previous book/books ad nausea. Yes, we are all aware what just happened in the book 5 chapters ago, YOU JUST WROTE IT. Utterly lazing writing.

- There is ZERO character development in the third book. NOTHING!

- Vorian Atreides. Clearly the most important protagonist of the last several books and they end his story with him limping away in disgrace. Something an Atreides would never do. What in the seven hells possessed them to utterly ruin this character?

- Venport. For the universe's most successful, smartest businessman they wrote him laughably bad. Mistake, after mistake, after mistake. A man who trapped the entire known universe in a complicated web of commerce wouldn't have made half the mistakes he made.

- Draigo Roget. A mentat, who offered very little in terms of advice for Venport. All defensive thinking, no offensive thinking, no multiple moves ahead as a REAL mentat would do. Did Kevin/Brian forget what the heck a mentat was?

- Norma Cenva. Besides Vorian, this character breakdown hurt the most. Norma's character development in the previous books was wonderful. An imperfect girl who becomes a beautiful women under the vicious torture of a cymek. A woman who becomes the most advanced human being ever known, maybe even more than a Kwisatz Haderach. A women who valued her family over everything. They take that character and reduce her to a handful of lines, all simple navigator speak. No depth and too boot, she abandons Venport. What a waste.

If you enjoy the Dune books after Frank Herbert passed, then this is more for you to read. It is not great literature and the characters have little to no depth, personality or growth. But I do kind of enjoy the world and finding out what happens in it.

Even so, there were multiple times I really wished sandworms would eat everyone in the cast. Everyone. Valya is a horror, Vor never learns, Roderick/Josef/Manford are extremists and on and on. Sandworms could have had them all and I would have been ok with it.

I know the Brian Herbert books have drawn a lot of heat from the purists out there, and to be honest I understand where they're coming from. However I did my best to view them as they are; supplements meant to further flesh out a universe we've all grown to love.

The problem with prequels; and why I've come to realize I intensely dislike them; is that you've already finished the story in your mind. You've already connected the dots and are just kinda going through the motions. You look and say "well that character isn't in the original. They've've got to die somehow. " I've found this hurts the story, and I've seen that happen a lot with the Star Wars movies. This story is no different. You know some things have to wrap up in some cases but not completely in others.

As for the characters that were written off, I'd say it was satisfying enough. Manford's fate was...eh, if you can overlook the fact that you've read it before, you shouldn't be too disappointed. The clash between Venport and Roderick seemed to reach epic proportions of ludicrous. It's really hard to believe two people could have this many misunderstandings this many times, especially with a Truth sayer present. I found the resolution to be bizarre to say the least. It seemed they were both favorite characters the authors simply didn't want to part with.

The feud between Vorian and Valya was especially tricky. The authors were tasked with putting a close on problem that would somehow have to last for the eight or so millenia? I knew that would be a stretch and their solution was about what I'd expected.

Now for Erasmus. Sigh it's been quite a journey for me with this character. From the moment he stabbed that cook to death til now I've nursed a particular dislike for this character. I've hated him at sometimes and others, I've simply grit my teeth at him. I can't say I loathed him the way I did Manford, but he definitely stood out as the villian you'd have to endure. I wasn't particularly on board when they tried to bring out his "humanity" through Gilbertus but I went along with it as well as I could.

Well they finally bring his character to a close, and I think it's a bit too soon to say how I feel about it. Did he deserve more? Did he deserve less? I'm not really sure. In terms of comparison his end reminded me more of Agamemnon's than Ajax. You'll have to decide for yourself. I know I would have been furious if they would have eked out another survival for him though.

I know it sounds like I'm being critical but I'm just trying to be subjective. I love this universe and the characters in it. I don't think I'll ever be "done" with Dune. While I acknowledge Brian and Kevin made choices that Frank probably never would, I appreciate their attempts to keep these characters alive. I respect their right to tell their story their way. I for one know for a fact The Force Awakens would have been vastly different if Lucas had directed that one as well. If you're hyper critical of these novels, please try to keep that in mind.

I would recommend this book. It completes the prequel series well enough. One shouldn't be disappointed too much.